ESPN names Knoxville "TitleTown USA" Finalist

Knoxville has been selected as a finalist for SportsCenter’s fan-based and interactive search for “TitleTown USA.” Knoxville is one of 20 cities to be profiled as part of SporstCenter’s nationwide search for America’s top championship city.

ESPN will visit Knoxville on June 28 to film the town's segment at Bruce Pearl's Shooting Camp at the University of Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena.

Currently, 16 of the 20 finalists have been unveiled. The remaining four finalists will be announced each day this week on the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter.

Some cities already named include Green Bay, Louisville, Detroit, Boston, and Los Angeles.

The finalists for “TitleTown USA” were selected by a combination of 2,000 fan-generated nominations, a ESPN production research team that pared down nominations to 50, and a blue-ribbon panel consisting of 19 non-ESPN journalists and 12 SportsCenter anchors who ranked the list of 50 communities.

As part of the series, SportsCenter will have daily segments featuring each of the cities (one city per day) from July 4 – 23. At the conclusion of the series, fanswill select the winner through online voting Thursday, July 24 – Saturday, July 26. The winner will be announced on SportsCenter Sunday, July 27, at 11 p.m.

Highlights of Knoxville announced last week on SportsCenter.

The Tennessee Volunteer football program has 47 bowl appearances (second among all schools), won six National Championships and has the highest winning percentage of any team in major college football

Women’s basketball program has won eight National Championships including the last two

Football program has ranked in top three in attendance for 32 consecutive seasons

The Lady Vols consistently lead the country in average attendance and the men’s basketball team ranked among the top four in 2007-08 season

Coach Pat Summitt has more wins than any other coach in men’s or women’s basketball and has been to the Sweet 16 in all 27 NCAA tournaments she has coached

Men’s Track and Field program has five NCAA team national titles – sent 25 track stars to the last eight Olympic games